By Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Olesya Astakhova
LONDON/MOSCOW, Nov 30 (Reuters) – OPEC+ countries agreed to maintain group-wide oil production quotas for 2026 at a meeting on Sunday, and also agreed on “a mechanism to assess members’ maximum oil production capacity,” OPEC said in a statement.
Eight OPEC+ countries, which will hold a separate meeting on Sunday, also have an agreement in principle to maintain a pause in their production increases for the first quarter of 2026, an OPEC+ source and a person familiar with the OPEC+ talks previously said.
The meeting of OPEC+, which pumps half of the world’s oil, comes during a new US effort to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which could increase oil supplies if sanctions against Russia are eased. Ministers have started a series of online meetings, two sources said.
If the peace deal fails, Russia could see its supplies further restricted by sanctions. OPEC+ brings together the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia.
OVER 3 MLN PRODUCTION CUTS ARE STILL IN PLACE
Brent crude oil closed on Friday near $63 a barrel, down 15% this year.
OPEC+ has paused oil production increases for the first quarter of 2026 after releasing about 2.9 million barrels per day to the market from April 2025.
The group still has about 3.24 million bpd of production cuts, representing about 3% of global demand, and Sunday’s meeting did not alter them.
OPEC said the group had approved a mechanism to assess members’ maximum production capacity that will be used to set production quotas from 2027.
OPEC+ has been discussing the issue for years and it has proven difficult because some members, such as the United Arab Emirates, have increased capacity and want higher quotas.
Other members, such as African countries, have experienced declines in production capacity but are resisting quota cuts. Angola left the group in 2024 over a disagreement over its production quotas.
(Reporting by ‌Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Olesya Astakhova; writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov;‌ Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes)